For years, Unity and Unreal have been the dominant forces behind the majority of games released on platforms like Steam—accounting for roughly 70 % of titles in 2025. While open‑source alternatives such as Godot have made notable strides, most large studios still cling to proprietary solutions, exemplified by Capcom’s in‑house RE Engine. This concentration has left the market feeling almost closed off. Enter Immersive Technologies—better known as Immens—founded by three industry veterans: Arjan Brussee, Sjoerd De Jong, and Michal Valient.
Their résumés read like a who’s‑who of game development, with experience at Epic Games (the creators of Unreal), Guerrilla Games, Boss Key, and even Apple. Together they argue that there is still room for a fresh engine, one that not only competes with the established giants but also addresses the pain points that have built up over the past decade.
In a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Brussee explained that the timing feels right for a new platform. “A few years ago this kind of engine didn’t exist,” he said. “With AI‑assisted programming we can finally start building from the ground up again, under tight guidance, and get full‑featured tools up and running quickly.” Valient, Immens’s chief technology officer, clarified that the AI they are integrating is not the “prompt‑to‑image” hype that dominates headlines.
Instead, their AI is woven into the engine’s architecture to make it highly extensible. “If we design the codebase with AI in mind, even a solo developer can add a custom particle system or a bespoke animation pipeline without wrestling with opaque scripting layers,” he explained. The goal is to let creators extend the engine as naturally as they would extend a library of functions, accelerating iteration and reducing boilerplate work.
The motivation behind this AI‑centric approach stems from the current market climate, which Brussee describes as “rough.” Game development costs continue to climb, and smaller studios find it increasingly difficult to break even. “We need new ways of working that shrink budgets, shrink teams, and shrink timelines,” he argued. “If we can make the process more efficient, creators won’t have to gamble their livelihoods on a single hit.” De Jong, Immens’s chief product officer, highlighted a broader industry trend toward standardisation and consolidation. While this has given developers a stable foundation, it has also led to a monolithic mindset where studios must conform to rigid, proprietary workflows and file formats.
“We need innovation, not more of the same,” he said. “Our engine should adapt to the developer, not force the developer to adapt to it.” Flexibility is therefore a cornerstone of Immens’s design philosophy. Developers will be able to swap modules, append new features, and craft tailor‑made tools that match their personal workflow.
De Jong illustrated this with a personal example: “I can build an interface that mirrors my own shortcuts, my own UI layout, and the exact features my team needs for a specific project.” This level of customisation, he believes, is essential for fostering creativity without being shackled by a one‑size‑fits‑all pipeline. Valient is also candid about AI’s limits. While the technology can reason over massive codebases and accelerate routine tasks, it can “go off the rails” if left unchecked. Immens therefore places the user in full control, offering transparent histories of AI actions so developers can audit and repeat processes reliably.
This safety net is crucial when, for instance, a designer wants to generate five characters with a particular trait. In the past, such a task might have taken weeks; with AI‑assisted tooling, it could be prototyped over a coffee break and then refined or discarded as needed. The engine’s openness is another deliberate choice. By embracing text‑based, open standards for assets and configuration files, Immens ensures that tools like Blender, Maya, or any generative‑AI system can plug in seamlessly.
“When files are readable as plain text, any AI can parse them and act on them,” Brussee noted. This contrasts with many existing engines that act as closed ecosystems, hindering interoperability and forcing developers into proprietary pipelines. There is, of course, a cultural backlash against AI in games.
Some pundits on LinkedIn predict a future where a single prompt can spawn a Grand‑Theft‑Auto‑level world, feeding fears of “click‑to‑game” shortcuts that undermine craftsmanship. Immens’s team acknowledges these concerns but frames AI as a tool rather than a replacement.
Valient said, “AI will make everyone better; it’s a catalyst, not a crutch.” De Jong added that responsible use is a collective responsibility, just as any powerful technology can be misused. Economic anxieties also swirl around the AI boom, with many questioning whether the sector is a bubble. Valient draws a parallel to the dot‑com era: “The internet didn’t disappear; the shaky companies did.
Good technology survives.” Immens aims to be one of those lasting products, focusing on building a solid engine first and letting AI accelerate its development. Funding remains modest.
The founders have secured “first commitments” but have not disclosed exact figures, emphasizing that excess capital can breed complacency. “Too much money makes you lazy; being scrappy keeps you sharp,” Brussee laughed. The team remains lean—just the three founders plus a handful of helpers—by design, believing that a small, focused group can make decisive architectural choices without the overhead of a massive staff. Immens is currently racing toward a proof‑of‑concept demo that showcases a generative‑AI‑driven editing workflow.
Initially slated for year‑end, the prototype is already on track for a release within the month, a timeline Brussee says is “twice as fast as we expected.” Business‑model discussions are still early. While they admire Epic Games’ revenue‑share approach—where the platform succeeds when developers succeed—they admit it’s too soon to lock in a definitive strategy.
Ultimately, the trio hopes their engine will spark a new wave of creativity and risk‑taking in games. “We love games as an art form,” Brussee concluded. “We want to see more daring, more innovative experiences built on technology that empowers creators rather than shackles them. If we can make that happen, it would be amazing.”